


500 Minutes

by orphan_account



Category: Gintama
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Shounen-ai, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-04-23 09:56:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4872448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Every day, people wake up to find a timer on their wrists. It happens randomly; no one knows when they’ll wake up to see one. And when Gintoki wakes up on his birthday to find one ticking away on his wrist, he finds that he only has 500 minutes to find his soulmate.</p><p>Either that, or he dies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Shinsengumi and Yorozuya haven’t met. At all. Also I might be incapable of writing comedy but we’ll see although I’m not sure how much humor this fic will have in the first place.
> 
> Also I forgot to put Sadaharu in but he is appearing in the second chapter...XD

“Happy birthday, Gin-chan!”

Gintoki only has a second’s warning before all the breath is knocked out of him when Kagura decides that jumping on his stomach is a good way to wake him up.

“Gah!”

His eyes open wide, and his legs jerk up, falling back down onto his futon with a soft thump as he groans in pain. He glares up at the orange-haired Yato, reaching a hand up to grab her head and squeeze it as hard as he can.

“Kagura, you idiot, what the hell are you doing?!”

Kagura pulls away from his hand and hands him a box tied up with a red ribbon, a proud smile on her face. Gintoki takes the box carefully, untying the bow to reveal a box with the word “sukonbu” on it. It seems harmless enough, but he opens it with caution anyway. He relaxes when nothing happens.

“Oh good, no explosion.”

Kagura punches his stomach right below the solar plexus. Gintoki splutters painfully, Kagura yelling in his face as he shuts his eyes from the pain.

“That was only one time! And why haven’t you thanked me yet?! You are an ungrateful child!”

Gintoki opens one eye, waving a hand dismissively.

“Yeah, yeah, thanks for the sukonbu.”

Kagura punches him again for his tone of voice and jumps off him, stomping away with a huff as she mutters about how unlucky she is to be the mother of “such a rude child.”

Gintoki merely groans, hugging his midsection as he curls up into a fetal position in an attempt to lessen the pain. When he feels better (which takes longer than he would like to admit), he slowly uncurls himself and stands up to put on his kimono.

It’s when he’s taking off his pajama shirt that he sees the black numbers on his right wrist.

 _500_ , it says, in big bold numbers, and even as he’s watching, the number changes to 499. He sighs and closes his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again to put his black shirt on, zipping it up and slipping his kimono over it. He wraps his belt around his waist, tying it and placing his bokken in the space between the belt and his hip.

After a few seconds’ hesitation, he wraps his wrist with bandages, watching as the black numbers disappear underneath.

He doesn’t want anyone to see them.

* * *

“Happy birthday, Gin-san!”

Shinpachi’s greeting is much less violent than Kagura’s, and Gintoki is grateful for that, although he does still stare at the package being handed to him with a suspicious look.

“…What is that.”

Shinpachi shoves it at him and lets it go, leaving Gintoki to juggle it before finally catching it so that it doesn’t hit the ground.

“It’s your birthday present, Gin-san. And this is also a birthday present.”

Gintoki’s eyes widen dramatically when he sees Shinpachi slide over a chocolate parfait, reaching for the chair in front of it and sitting down in less than a heartbeat.

“Is this…chocolate parfait?”

Shinpachi nods.

“Yes, Gin-san. I made it.”

It was not, by all means, perfect. There were traces of chocolate syrup on the outside of the tall cup, and Gintoki could see that the vanilla ice cream had been dumped into the cup haphazardly. Shinpachi pushed his glasses up, trying to hide the light pink tint dusting his cheeks.

“Kagura-chan was trying to eat the ice cream, so I had to dump it in there and then pour on the chocolate syrup before she grabbed the bottle and tried to eat all of that.”

Gintoki nodded and dug in. Soon, the parfait was all gone, leaving an empty cup and a Gintoki with chocolate smeared over his mouth.

“Did you like it?”

Gintoki merely wiped the chocolate syrup away with the back of his hand, pushing his chair away from the table and standing up.

“You know, Shinpachi, anything with sugar tastes good.”

Shinpachi sighs and takes the cup, sticking it in the kitchen sink.

“I should’ve known…”

Gintoki hazards a glance at his wrist.

 _495_.

* * *

“Oi, Gintoki, when are you going to pay your rent?”

Gintoki sticks his pinky in his ear, sliding the door shut as soon as he hears Otose.

“On second thought, I’ll just go over there instead–”

He is rudely interrupted when flames shoot out from behind him, his face paling slightly as he turns his head slowly to see the green-haired robot maid.

“Tama…?”

“Gintoki-sama, please take these tickets.”

Gintoki takes the tickets carefully, Tama staring at his wrist with her head tilted to the side.

“Gintoki-sama, may I enquire as to why you have bandages on your wrist?”

Gintoki glances at his wrist, at the white bandages covering the black numbers underneath.

“I…cut myself on something last night.”

Tama stares at him for a second longer before nodding and turning away to re-enter the bar, and Gintoki knows that she knows he was lying, but he’s grateful that she doesn’t push it.

 _493_.

* * *

The tickets were admission into an amusement park, and it seems as though Otose had thought of the fact that Otae would want to tag along, if only to make sure that Gintoki wouldn’t destroy anything.

Though to be fair, he thought it was more likely that Kagura would.

So when Shinpachi went to his house to inform his sister of their outing, he returned with her holding a wrapped box. Which brings him to his current predicament.

“Gin-san,” she says with a smile, “happy birthday! I decided to make you some of the omelette that you like so much!”

Gintoki pales and waves his hand in front of his face frantically.

“No, no, no, it’s fine, you really don’t have to, I don’t even like omelettes, ahahahaha….”

He trails off when he sees that her smile is somehow becoming increasingly scary, and he quickly reaches out to take the box before someone is killed. The fact that her evil aura quickly dissipates is an indication that he did something right for once.

“I’m so glad you like my present, Gin-san! Now then,” she says as she turns to look at her brother and Kagura, “let’s all go to the amusement park, shall we?”

_487._

* * *

Even though it’s supposed to be his birthday, Gintoki finds himself being pulled along to various rides by a way-too-excited Kagura. And when Shinpachi starts encouraging her, all Gintoki can do is look at him with the most betrayed look he can muster before he is dragged off to sit in the teacups with Kagura.

And then the carousel.

And the swing carousel.

And that godforsaken ride that brings you really high up and then suddenly drops you down.

He really wished he hadn’t eaten lunch.

And for some reason, Shinpachi and Otae decide to join in, dragging him into the Hall of Mirrors.

And the bumper cars.

Really, who ever thought that giving Otae a car and free reign to bump into others was a good idea?

But the worst part was when Kagura dragged him over to the haunted house.

Gintoki stares up at the dark structure that looks very out of place. At this point, he is ready to just kill himself and be done with everything because this is getting out of hand. Kagura has his arm in a death grip, so trying to tug his arm away is futile.

He tries anyway.

Soon, it is their turn to enter, and Gintoki is pretty sure his soul had just flown out of his mouth. Sadly, Kagura reaches up and sticks it right back in, pulling him into the darkness with the happiest look on her face, as if she isn’t about to drag him to his doom.

Now, it’s him clinging onto her arm, his eyes closed as he sings the first opening song for Dragon Ball under his breath.

“Gin-chan, what’re you doing?”

Gintoki shushes her quickly.

“Shut up, Kagura! What if a ghost comes out?!”

She slaps him on the head, forcing him to let go of her arm as he rubs his head in pain.

“What the hell was that for?!”

He receives no answer.

“Kagura?”

Still nothing.

Gathering up what little courage he has, he straightens up and begins walking carefully towards what he believes is the exit.

“Boo!”

He screams, and without a second of hesitation, he runs as fast as he can towards the exit, bumping into various other ghosts and zombies and mummies, screaming each and every time. When he finally bursts out the exit and sees sunlight, he stops and rests his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

A second later, Kagura bursts out and runs towards Otae and Shinpachi, who are waiting for them a few meters away.

“Hey, Anego, you heard that, yes? I scared Gin-chan!”

She pats her head with a smile.

“Yes, Kagura-chan, good job!”

Gintoki all but collapses on the floor from the realization that it had been Kagura who had scared him.

“Kagura, goddammit, I’ll–”

 _237_.

* * *

They end the day with the ferris wheel, all four of them riding together. Kagura presses her face to the glass, staring down at the people milling around on the ground, her eyes wide.

“Gin-chan, they’re so small! They look like ants, yes! I can crush them!”

Gintoki facepalms, wondering where the hell she got that from, then realizing that he’d probably said that at one point in his life. Otae punches him for teaching Kagura that, and Shinpachi tries to calm them down as they yell at each other, the compartment they’re in shaking as they stomp on the bottom. Thankfully, they all make it down in one piece, although the person in charge of the ride looks deathly pale.

By the time Kagura finally decides that they’ve spent enough time at the amusement park, everyone is tired, and Gintoki has decided that this is the worst birthday he’d ever had, dammit.

Shinpachi leaves with Otae, both of them smiling as though it had been the best day of their lives. Kagura and Gintoki return to the Yorozuya, Kagura rubbing her eyes sleepily. Dinner is a quick affair; Kagura stuffs everything in her mouth as fast as she can, eating more than double what Gintoki eats, before she changes into her pajamas and is unconscious as soon as her head hits the pillow, the most content look on her face.

 _Why did everyone else have more fun than I did on my own birthday?_  Gintoki laments, sliding the door closed when he sees that she’s sound asleep. He scratches the back of his head and turns around, heading towards the entrance of the Yorozuya. He slips on his boots on and slides the door open quietly, closing it behind him softly.

Kagura probably wouldn’t wake up from that anyway, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

_10._

* * *

Gintoki finds an empty clearing in the woods by the playground, and he sighs as he settles down on the grass. The grass sways in the wind, and the leaves rustle, a few of them falling off the tree branches and floating past Gintoki. Above him there is an opening where he can see through the trees, the moonlight shining through it as he closes his eyes and lays down on his back.

_This is a nice place to die._

_3._

* * *

Hijikata curses as he runs around Kabukicho, hoping to bump into his soulmate somewhere, anywhere, because at this point he does not care anymore. He does not want to die, he still has to take care of the Shinsengumi, dammit, and nothing is going to stop him, not even this stupid mark on his wrist. 

Really, did his soulmate  _not_  want to be found?! Most people  _don’t_ want to die, for fuck’s sake! 

_2._

* * *

Gintoki wonders how he is going to die.

He hopes it’s not going to be painful, although with his past, some horrible karma is going to make it so he dies the most painful death possible. After all, Kagura and Shinpachi, no matter how much he complained, were people he wouldn’t give up for the world. 

Still, though, if the universe had decided to give him them, then it had probably decided that he should have a painful death in exchange. After all, this world is all about equivalent exchange.

 _Just like in Fullmetal Alchemist_ , Gintoki thinks as he stares up at the stars. 

He deserves to die, he thinks, after all he has done. The Shiroyasha could never atone for his crimes no matter how much he tried.

_1._

* * *

By now, the timer has begun to count down in seconds, Hijikata’s dread growing heavier as the numbers decrease faster. 

_30._

* * *

Gintoki unwraps his wrist, staring at the black numbers as they quickly get closer and closer to zero.

_Five._

* * *

Hijikata does not want to die. He does not want to die, but apparently his fucking soulmate does! 

_What if he’s not in Kabukicho?_

Hijikata shakes the traitorous voice from his head, stopping in front of the park. He hasn’t checked here yet, so maybe his soulmate is here? 

But at first glance, the place looks empty. Of course, no one would be around at this time. Well, there  _is_  that homeless woman sleeping in a box. Hijikata approaches her, hoping that she is his soulmate but hoping that she isn’t at the same time.

The numbers on his wrist don’t stop, which relieves him and scares him at the same time. He only has three seconds left, but he still hopes for a miracle, because he cannot leave behind that homicidal sadist and that stupid gorilla. They’ll definitely bring the Shinsengumi into destruction if they’re left alone.

Suddenly, the moon glints off an object and catches his eye. He runs towards it as fast as he can, hoping against all hope that it is a person and not some random lost item.

_Two._

As he gets closer, he can see that the object is not a lost item. Rather, it is a head full of silvery-blue hair. The person appears to be sleeping, and he looks like a good-for-nothing with his strange way of dressing up and his horribly messy hair, but right now this stranger is his last hope.

_One._

“Oi!” he calls out, the silvery-blue head jerking up as its owner sits up quickly and turns around, his eyes wide with surprise.

“You–”

The numbers on their wrists reach zero at the same time, a flash of light enveloping them and slowly fading away, leaving nothing behind except for the faint outline of the number zero.

Hijikata opens his eyes slowly to see crimson red eyes still staring at him with surprise. But right now, he doesn’t care about that. A tic forms on his forehead as he grabs the shirt of the male in front of him, yelling in his face.

“What the hell do you think you were doing?! Did you  _want_ to die?! Well unfortunately for you,  _I_ don’t plan on leaving this earth anytime soon!”

An identical tic forms over the other man’s eye, who grabs Hijikata’s shirt as well.

“Shut up! I did  _not_  want to die, asshole!”

“Then why the hell were you just sleeping in a place with  _no people?!”_

“I just wanted some peace and quiet, retard!”

“You’d never find your soulmate like that, you fucking idiot!”

“Well you found me anyway, didn’t you?!”

They let go of each other at the same time, both of them breathing heavily from their yelling match. The clearing is quiet as they both realize that yes, they had, found their soulmate, and that soulmate was the stupid idiot standing across from them. 

Hijikata breathes in deeply and lets it out in a long-suffering sigh, taking out a cigarette and placing it in his mouth. He lights it with his mayo-shaped lighter, breathing in and letting the smoke curl out of his mouth. 

“…I’m Hijikata Toushiro.”

The stupid permhead stares at him suspiciously, glancing at the mayo-shaped lighter in his hand.

“Is that a mayo lighter? They sell those? And you like them? Are you obsessed with mayo or something? Mayora.”

Hijikata already knows he hates this man and it’s only been a few minutes. He takes another drag from his cigarette, trying to resist the urge to slam this man’s face into the ground.

“What. Is. Your. Name?”

“…Sakata Gintoki.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The day after, from Shinsengumi POV

“Toshi! You found your soulmate!”

Kondo’s normally loud and cheerful voice holds a bit of relief as he opens Hijikata’s room to find him working on his paperwork as diligently as possible, the black-haired man acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened the day before.

“Even though it would have been better if he had died…”

A tic forms over Hijikata’s eye when he hears Sougo’s usual lazy drawl. He turns away from his paperwork to glare at Okita, who is stepping out from behind Kondo with his usual apathetic expression.

“Shut up, Sougo!”

Kondo’s loud laughter diffuses the growing tension in a second. He claps a hand on each of their shoulders, turning his smiling face towards Hijikata.

“Anyway, Toshi! What’s your soulmate like? Is she pretty?”

Hijikata grips his pen so hard he thinks it might snap.

“ _He…_ is an asshole. Plus, he insulted mayo! No self-respecting man insults mayo!”

Kondo’s smile droops slightly as he sweat-drops at Hijikata’s last sentence.

“Your soulmate is a guy? I didn’t know you swung that way, Hijikata, you bastard.”

“Shut up!” Hijikata growls. “Besides, I don’t even like him. I  _knew_  this whole soulmate thing was BS!”

Sougo grins evilly, holding a video camera up in front of him as he shakes off Kondo’s arm.

“Then why were you running around Kabukicho like a maniac last night?”

Hijikata stands and swipes at the video camera, Sougo taking it out of his reach with practiced ease.

“I was  _not!_ ”

Sougo powers on the camera, flipping open the screen. His grin widens.

“Are you  _sure_  about that?”

Hijikata lunges forward, only to be held back by the hand that is still on his shoulder. Sougo’s smile fades slightly when his fun is taken away, only to grow again when he thinks of something.

“Hey, Kondo-san,” he says with false innocence, “why don’t we go visit his soulmate?”

“That’s a great idea, Sougo! Let’s go, Toshi!”

He is blissfully unaware of Hijikata’s dread as he drags him off, away from the Shinsengumi headquarters and towards his doom, while Okita simply follows behind with a smug smile.

Hijikata is barely able to hand off all their responsibilities to Yamazaki as he is hauled out of the gates.

* * *

“Ah, you’re looking for that good-for-nothing? He lives above Otose’s bar, over there. Says ‘Yorozuya Gin-chan.’ Can’t miss it.”

Kondo is not deterred by the man’s crass words, opting to simply smile and nod his thanks as he drags Hijikata behind him in the direction the man had gestured in. As they walk, Hijikata manages to shake off Kondo’s hand, lighting a cigarette with a scowl as he resigns himself to his fate.

And of course, he is knocked down a second later when a familiar head of silver hair rams into him, both of them falling with similar groans of pain.

“Ow, ow, ow… Watch where you’re going, bastard!”

Hijikata glares and pushes the other man off of him, sitting up with a grimace as the back of his head twinges with pain.

“Right back at you, fucking perm-head!”

Gintoki sits up from where he had fallen, rubbing the back of his head with a glare. His glare intensifies when he sees who he had bumped in to.

“You fucking mayora–”

“Gin-chan!”

Gintoki’s face pales when he hears the voice, slowly turning to look behind him at an orange-haired girl running towards him with a huge dog. Before anyone can react, the girl has knocked him to the ground again face-first, sitting on top of him with her purple umbrella closed and pointing at his head.

“Let me keep Sadaharu!”

Gintoki groans, his voice slightly muffled by the ground. He turns his head to glare up at the Yato.

“Kagura, goddammit! No!”

Kagura pets the dog’s snout, slapping it when it attempts to bite her hand. 

“But look! Sadaharu likes me!”

“No, no, he obviously doesn’t, did you  _not_  just see him try to bite your hand off?”

She ignores him, poking her umbrella at his head.

“Let me keep him.”

“No.”

“Sadaharu’s very well-behaved.”

“No.”

“Look at his cute little face! You can’t say ‘no’ to this face, yes?”

“Not keeping him!”

By this point, Hijikata has stood up and is brushing the dirt off his clothes as he watches with an amused expression. Kondo whispers to him, unwilling to interrupt the fighting duo.

“Do you know him, Toshi?”

Hijikata nods, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

“He’s my…soulmate.”

Okita pipes up, his red eyes gleaming with mirth.

“’Mayora’?”

“Shut up, Sougo.”

Beside them, a teen runs up and rests his hands on his knees, panting as he tries to catch his breath.

“Let me keep him!”

“Fine! Just get off me!”

Kagura climbs off of him with a satisfied smile, opening her umbrella and holding it over her head proudly as she pets the dog. Gintoki peels himself of the ground and pats the dirt off his kimono. He whirls around to face the girl.

“Just so you know, I’m not taking it out for walks or feeding it and stuff like that, okay?!”

Suddenly, the dog is behind him, its front paws resting on his shoulders as it bites into his head, blood streaming down his face. The teen standing beside Okita decides to speak up then, straightening up in a panic.

“Gin-san, Sadaharu is biting your head!”

“Wow, Shinpachi, I didn’t notice. Thanks for telling me.”

The teen runs forward, the sunlight reflecting off his round glasses as he grabs the dog in an attempt to get it off of Gintoki’s head. Sadly, Sadaharu only complies after Kagura slaps its nose. 

Shinpachi turns towards the three Shinsengumi members and bows.

“Sorry for bothering you!”

Kondo waves a hand.

“No, no, it’s fine! By the way, I’m Kondo Isao. This is Hijikata Toushiro, and that is Okita Sougo.”

Shinpachi smiles.

“Nice to meet you, Kondo-san. I’m Shimura Shinpachi, she’s Kagura-chan, and that’s Sakata Gintoki-san.”

“Oh, yeah, we know! He’s Toshi’s soulmate, after all!”

At this, both Kagura and Shinpachi freeze.

“Soulmate? Gin-san is?”

Gintoki looks up from where he is wiping his blood off with the sleeve of his kimono.

“What?”

Shinpachi gestures towards Hijikata.

“You’re his soulmate?!”

Gintoki stares, his gaze switching between Shinpachi and Hijikata and back.

“Uh… yeah?”

Kagura kicks him in the stomach, resulting in him falling onto his side and curling up in pain.

“What the hell was that for?!”

“Because Gin-chan’s an idiot!”

“HOW?!”

“You didn’t tell us anything! Idiot!”

“I don’t wanna be called that by you!”

Another kick.

“What’s that supposed to mean, huh?”

“Exactly what it sounds like!”

A grunt of pain.

“Stop kicking me already, goddammit!”

Kondo sweat-drops and turns his head towards Hijikata.

“So…,” he says, gesturing towards the fighting duo. “ _He’s_  your soulmate, huh?”

Hijikata lights a cigarette and turns away from them.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Are you embarrassed, Hijikata-san?”

A tic forms over his eye.

“Shut up, Sougo!”


	3. Chapter 3

Smoke trails up towards the sky, the smell of cigarette smoke filling the area. Hijikata stares up at the sky before reluctantly pressing the doorbell in front of him. A minute later, a teen slides open the door with a friendly, albeit confused, smile.

“Hijikata-san! What are you doing here?”

Hijikata exhales slowly. 

“Is perm-head here?”

Shinpachi’s smile turns slightly strained.

“Gin-san’s still sleeping. Do you want me to wake him up?”

Hijikata desperately wants to shake his head and leave, but he can’t. Instead, he nods curtly.

“Come in and have some tea while I go wake him up,” Shinpachi says, turning and walking inside. Hijikata follows and closes the door behind him. He sits at the table awkwardly, trying to ignore the suspicious glare he is receiving from the Yato sitting across from him. Shinpachi sets a cup of tea in front of him before disappearing into the adjoining room.

“Gin-san! Wake up! It’s already 10 o’clock!”

Hijikata can hear a small groan, but he ignores it as he squeezes half a bottle of mayonnaise into his tea. Across from him, Kagura’s glare is slowly morphing into a disgusted stare.

“You actually think that tastes  _good_?!”

Hijikata grunts noncommittally.

“Ignore it, Kagura. He’s a mayo-obsessed idiot, remember?”

Hijikata glares at Gintoki, who has just walked out of his room, Shinpachi behind him.

“ _What_  did you just call me?”

Gintoki sighs sadly.

“It seems that not only is he obsessed with mayo, he’s deaf too! Kagura isn’t this horrible?”

Kagura wipes a fake tear from her eye and clutches at her chest.

“Oh, this poor child! What can we do to help him?”

Before Hijikata can act upon his murderous thoughts, Shinpachi slaps his hands over their mouths, effectively cutting off whatever they were about to say next. He smiles at Hijikata.

“Now that Gin-san is awake, would you like to tell us why you’re here?”

Hijikata glares at Gintoki as he answers.

“Kondo-san wants me to ‘hang out’ with him.”

Gintoki manages to pull Shinpachi’s hand away from his face.

“Why should I go with you?”

Frowning, Hijikata tries to think of ways to get Gintoki to agree. After a few seconds, he sighs and mentally mourns what the state of his wallet will be at the end of the day.

“I’ll pay for everything,” he says reluctantly. 

Gintoki’s demeanor makes a sudden 180.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

* * *

“So why did you volunteer to pay for everything? Not that I’m complaining.”

Hijikata stares with barely-concealed disgust as Gintoki finishes off a chocolate parfait without any regard to table manners.

“I told you, Kondo-san wanted me to.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to listen to him, do you? It’s not like he’ll be watching you or something,” Gintoki says as he shovels in a last spoonful and then waves over a waiter to order another one. “Unless he is, which would be creepy.”

“He threatened to hide my mayonnaise,” Hijikata replies as he squeezes another bottle of mayonnaise into his coffee. Gintoki manages to pretend he doesn’t see anything. He hums his understanding and finishes his second parfait quickly.

“Well,” he says as he stands up abruptly. “Might as well have as much fun as possible, then!”

Once again, Hijikata mentally mourns the future of his wallet.

* * *

The normal person would usually think that Gintoki is a lazy ass perm-head; after all, his days are mostly filled with sleeping and reading Jump idly without doing any work.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as he spends the day dragging Hijikata to various places. One second, they’ll be at a dango shop, the next, they’ll be at a pachinko parlor, where Gintoki seems to be losing money more than he wins it.

“Where are we going next?” Hijikata asks tiredly, scrubbing a hand over his face. Gintoki glances at him as they walk out of the parlor.

“How much money do you have left?”

Hijikata glances through his wallet, which is definitely much thinner than it had been at the beginning of the day.

“About 3000 yen,” he replies, glaring at the wallet and at the samurai beside him.

Gintoki nods, his next words shocking Hijikata.

“Where do  _you_  want to go?”

Hijikata gapes.

“Oh my  _fucking god._  The world’s ending. It’s the apocalypse. We’re all going to die–”

“Shut up!”

Gintoki’s ears are reddening.

“You’re paying for everything, so I thought we might as well do something you want to do, but if you don’t want to, then that’s fine!” 

“Let’s go there, then,” Hijikata says, pointing at a small restaurant off to their right. Gintoki follows him inside, and they sit at the counter, the owner smiling at them.

“Oh, hello! I assume you want the usual?”

They nod in unison.

“So you go here too?” Hijikata asks after a few minutes of silence.

“Yeah,” Gintoki says, brightening visibly when he sees his meal arriving.

“One Uji Gintoki-don and one Hijikata Special!”  
  
They dig in to their respective meals.

_Maybe he’s not as bad as I thought,_ Hijikata muses as he shovels in the mayonnaise and rice combination.

“What  _is_  that? Dog food?”

Hijikata glares at Gintoki, who has already finished his red bean and rice.

_Nope, nevermind._


End file.
